


Things I Never Told You: Deltarune

by NeonFinch



Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 18,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22346326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonFinch/pseuds/NeonFinch
Summary: After the events of Undertale, things went back to normal. Frisk continued her job as ambassador for the monsters of the Underground, and the monsters found a place on the surface to be happy, somewhere just for themselves.Almost 20 years later, another story begins to take place, as Toriel's adopted son, Kris Dreemur, stumbles into an entirely new world; that of Deltarune. Kris and his new friend, Susie, manage to escape, but their story is far from over.Secrets kept by the Undertale crew are finally coming to light, as an unexpected reunion forces tensions to become greater than ever.---I am completely open to questions, comments and ideas! Feel free to inbox me!
Relationships: Chara (Undertale) & Kris (Deltarune), Frisk & Papyrus (Undertale), Frisk/Papyrus (Undertale), Kris & Susie (Deltarune), Sans/Toriel (Undertale)
Kudos: 16





	1. Frisk

"Frisk, he was in the hospital last week," Toriel murmurs across the line. "I didn't want to tell you because I know how worried you get, but we had no idea what was happening and thought you should know."

I feel my breath hitch in shock. I nearly drop the phone. "What do you mean you had no idea what was happening?!" I try not to shout. "Why would Kris ever be in the hospital? What the hell happened to him?" My frame begins to shake.

"He left Alphys's class with another student to get more chalk from the supply cabinet, and didn't get found until about 8 that night. The janitor went to get some things for cleaning and found both him and the student, Susie, with some pretty heavy wounds. They went to the ER, and all the while he kept spouting some stuff about Asriel and 'Darkners,' whatever those are. Honestly I think they were delirious... Oh, Frisk, we were so terrified." Toriel says, over the static line. 

I feel my face change from concern to horror. "Is he okay? Does Sans or Papyrus know? Did you tell Asriel?" I ask, pacing the now empty board room. I checked my wristwatch. Only a few minutes until the next meeting. It didn't matter now--knowing Kris was okay mattered. 

"Sans knows, but he hasn't told Russ yet. He gets about as upset as you, Frisk." The static gets a little thicker. I step towards the window; the static fades. 

"He should," I mutter. 

Static crackles again. Damned cell signal... "I know. He's in outpatient for the next couple of days if you want to come by. He's been asking about you lately, Frisk." 

I feel a lump in my throat begin to grow. She was right, I probably could've not been told this right now, the stress wasn't good for me. "What have you told him?" I venture, looking out the window across the vast cityscape below. It's a nice day... 

"Mostly that you're just a family friend and you are more like a sister than anything else. I think he's begun to put the pieces together though..." she breathes. "He's not 10 anymore, Frisk. He's almost 18."

I nod. "Well, maybe I should be the one to spill the beans then, huh? I can be there in a few hours... I just have a few more board meetings today, and then I can catch a flight or something." I pace the room, staring at my black heels as I go. "Mom, we're making great strides here for monsterkind.  
. I hope it makes a difference there..." I trail. 

She chuffs gently. "We're all grateful for you, Frisk. We know how hard you work for us. I'm so proud of you." The line begins to crackle even more, distorting Toriel's voice. 

"Mom? I can't... the line has too much stati--" and then the line cuts. I frown. Strange. That usually doesn't happen. I check my watch again and realize that it's time for the next meeting. I steel myself and open the door, trying to push thoughts of Kris from my mind.


	2. Asriel

The line moved slowly through the metal detectors and baggage lines, and I became more and more frustrated. I wanted to be home now more than ever. I needed to go... I needed to call Asriel. He knew how to calm me down. 

"Hey, Azzy?" I start. The baggage line moved a little. 

"Yeah?" 

I could tell he was preoccupied. "You got a few minutes? I know it's finals week but.."

"Yeah, no, anything for my older sis. What's up?" The flipping of pages is heard. 

"What've you heard about Kris? Mom just called and told me he was in the hospital. I didn't know if you knew any details."

"Yeah... he, uh.. he got hurt at school. Apparently there's some crazy time space thing in the supply closet at school? Sans and Alphys are looking into it today. Another kid got hurt too, Frisk."

I frown. At least the line was almost done. I saw my small suitcase coming though the detectors. "Yeah, that's what mom said. What kind of wounds did he have? Mom said they were pretty bad." I think back to how I felt after leaving the underground. I'm sure I looked like hell.

"I don't know exactly, I've been stuck here at Uni and I can't get home... things are nuts this time of year...." he trails. There's a brief silence before he asks, "Frisk, are you going to go see him...?"

I huff, grabbing my bag and wheeling it down the aisles to the terminal my flight was located at. People all stare, and I realize that I'm still wearing my badge, homeland security flashing in the dim light of the terminal. Oof, probably something no one here wanted to see. "Yeah. He's not been in the hospital since he broke his arm in track, and so I figured I'd go..." 

"...do you think you're gonna tell him...?"

"...mmmh, I don't know. Mom thinks I should. I don't know why we're waiting until now though, I mean, he's almost out of high school... I'm not sure what difference it would make. If anything it would confuse everyone." I finally land at the terminal and take a breath. I check my watch. Five minutes till boarding. 

"I think he deserves to know, you know? It might help him not feel so out of place. He has trouble being the only human at monster school, Frisk. I don't think it could hurt... he's a pretty cool kid." 

The sound of writing on a hard surface comes through the phone and I attempt to end the conversation. Asriel worked so hard to get into school and I was distracting him. "Yeah, we'll see. Anyways, I have to go, I've gotta catch this flight. Good luck on your board exams. You'll do great, Azzy." 

"Yeah, thanks. Just be kind to him, you know? It's a lot to take in." 

He clicks off the line and I stare at the phone, feeling extremely conflicted. 

I get on the plane anyways.


	3. Sans

I park the rental car in the hospital lot, frowning at the rain that splatters the windshield. 'Appropriate,' I think. Taking a deep breath, I run into the building. The rain is cold and pierces my face as it lands. 

The door closed behind me, and the sterile smell of the hospital filled my nostrils. I remember this smell a little too well. 

I look around the lobby and notice Sans in the corner, flipping through a magazine. He looks up and smirks. "Heya, kiddo. Good to see you again." He stands and heads my way and I smirk back, arms wide open. I haven't be home in years because of work... it seemed insane seeing him and being home. 

I hug him tightly. "Fuck, I missed you, you big lug. It's been a few years, eh? How are you?" I rub my knuckles on the top of his skull and laugh. He laughs too. 

He exhales, taking my hands in his. "Its been crazy around here lately as I'm sure you're aware. Kris will be happy to see you." He murmurs. "Oh, and by the way, Russ is in there too. I thought you might want to know, you know, in case..." He trails, shrugging. He seemed moderately uncomfortable. I realize he's not had sleep in days, the bags around his eyes were pretty dark. 

I nod. "That's fine. Is Kris okay?" I ask, going to sit in the chairs in the corner of the lobby. Flying made me exhausted, and I just needed to take a breather. 

"Eh," he shifts. "I think so. He keeps talking about Darkners and Asriel. He says there's a monster that looks exactly like Asriel but it isn't him."

"That's so strange... maybe he just really misses his brother..." 

"I think it's more than that. I think he was telling the truth, Frisk. I think..." He swallows. "I think the world he found is in trouble. Whatever the world is, I think it's disintegrating. Kris said something about a balance of darkness and light... something about it is off, and it's bringing itself to the real world. Sort of like the way the human and monster world was separated for so long until you came and freed us all..." 

"Oh," I murmur. "Is the other student okay?" I ask, looking him over slowly. He looks exhausted, and his jacket was extremely wrinkled, as if he'd been wrestling with it in his sleep. He seemed more disheveled than anything else. 

He shrugs, exhaling. "I think she's fine too, she's in a few rooms down from Kris. Undyne still hasn't found her parents, we actually aren't sure where she came from... she's been in school all these years, but we can't find where she lives... it's actually quite concerning." 

I nod. "Yeah, that is rough." I look at my hands and murmur gently, "Is now an okay time to go see Kris? Or...?" I was impatient to see him.

"Eh, as good a time as ever. Russ will be glad to see you too, you know," he murmurs, offering a hand to me. "I know you two aren't on the most normal of terms..." 

I shrug. "I'm here for Kris. He's my priority. If Russ wants to talk, then so be it," I breathe, standing. I gesture to him, straightening my jacket. "You coming?" 

"Yeah, right behind you, kiddo." He breathes, his hand clutching mine behind me.


	4. Kris

"And when we got out, I realized I'd never seen a sunset before! It was so beautiful Kris. You're so lucky you've seen a sunset almost every day of your life..." Papyrus says, ruffling Kris's hair. I felt my breath catch in my throat a little, seeing all of those tubes and monitors around him... I swallow it down and gently knock on the doorframe. 

"Frisk!" Papyrus breathes, eyes widening. "Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in so long! H..how are things?" He trails, as if he remembered everything between us mid-sentence. 

Kris sits up a little taller, a small smile crossing his face. He gives a weak wave and I wave back. He'd gotten so big... "Hey, Russ. I'm doing pretty good," I say, sitting at the foot of Kris's bed. He shuffles his feet under the covers beside me and I pat them softly. "Is he preaching about sunsets again?" I smile at Kris. "They are pretty spectacular." 

"Yeah," Kris rasps, glancing at Papyrus, who seemed uncomfortable. He gently patted Kris's shoulder and goes to sit in the chair next to his brother. Sans obliges and scoots over just enough to give him purchase on the seat. Papyrus takes the magazine beside the table and pretends to be interested in it, even though I knew he was just avoiding me. 

"Well, Kris, what'd you get yourself into this time? Another track injury?" I say, turning to sit crosslegged facing him on the bed. 

"Haha, I wish! It's just a bit more complicated than that... I fought this guy who was twice my size, Frisk! He had these huge tentacles and he almost killed us! If Lancer hadn't shown up when he did, I don't know what would've happened!" He beams. "We won and then Ralsei showed us the way out! Ralsei is the prince of the darkness, but he's so nice! He looks almost just like Asriel, except his horns were pink, and he knows healing magic!" He rambles, beaming with excitement. 

I smile and listen to him intently, nodding as he tells his tale. "Woah! That's amazing! Did Ralsei come with you back to the surface?" I ask, rubbing his left leg. He had a cast on the other, it showed through the thin hospital blankets.

He frowns, looking at me petting him. "Um... actually, he had to stay. The world they live in is slowly breaking apart, and the only ones who can save it are Ralsei, Susie, and me. Otherwise... that world and everyone in it could die..." he trails. "Susie says its dumb, but I'm not so sure... I mean, the same thing happened to you, right? Kind of?" 

I smile. "Mhm. The barrier in the underground couldn't have been broken by anyone but me," I whisper. 

Sans huffs in the corner. "It was going to be you, live or die. You just managed to live through it." 

"Shut it, bonebag," I say, shooting him a frustrated glance. Kris needed to know how important he was in all of this... especially if it were real... 

Kris brings me back to reality when he sits up, leaning on my shoulder. "I want to go back... I want to help Ralsei and Susie wants to go too..." he yawns. "Maybe you can come too, Frisk, if you're not too busy at work and all... I think Ralsei and Lancer would like you a lot." 

The weight of his body becomes heavy on my own, and I realize he's just a bigger person than me... he really had gotten so tall. "Kris," I start, pulling a pillow and putting it in my lap. He lies down on it willingly, curling into me. I pet his fluffy dark brown hair and can't help but smile. "I think you helping Ralsei was very kind, and doing it in a place where you were scared is very brave. I'm proud of you, Kris." I continue to run my fingers through his scalp, trying to avoid the giant scrape on the side of his face. 

He sighs and curls a little closer. "Thanks, Frisk," he murmurs, face now buried in the pillow. "I'mf glad you camf homf," he whispers through the pillow. With a big huff, his shoulders relaxed and his breathing fell into a normal, slow rhythm, and I knew he was asleep. 

I feel my heart soften, and the fact that Sans and Papyrus were watching me fade away. This was why I came. I gently rub his back and place my nose into his hair, inhaling the smell of warmth and cinnamon it gave. 

"I love you, Kris," I breathe. "...and I'm so sorry."


	5. Papyrus

"Frisk," he began, looking defeated, staring at his lap that held the uninteresting magazine. "I... I'm glad you're back," he resigns, glancing my way. 

I nod, fingers still running though Kris's hair. At this point he had begun to snore. I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. "Yeah, me too, Russ. I forgot how much I loved this tiny town. Beats city scenes for sure..." I trail. 

"No, Frisk... I... ugh." He exhales, obviously frustrated with himself. "I meant I'm glad you're here right now, here with Kris and here with... uh..." He glances over at Sans, who had also finally nodded off, resting his skull on the window of the room. "here with us. Things haven't been the same since both you and Asriel left." He smiles, "It's good to remind myself of what you look like."

I huff in response, forcing down a blush. I knew he knew the effect he had on me, and I had little intent to let him know anything else of it. "Thanks, Russ. It's good to see you too."

The room goes silent for a moment, devoid of any sound except the clicking of monitors and Kris's and Sans's breathing. This was so different from what I was used to, and definitely different than things had been in the past. 

"When did you know?" I ask quietly, still focused on Kris. "About him being hurt." 

"We knew pretty much immediately. When Toriel couldn't find him, Sans knew pretty instantly. It was kind of strange how he knew so soon, he said he just had this "feeling" that something bad had happened." Papyrus breathes, staring at the wall. "Frisk, I would've called sooner, but I wasn't sure if you'd wanna talk since... you know, we kind of weren't talking."

I shoot a frustrated glance his way. "That doesn't matter! This is my son we're talking about here! It would've been different if it were anything else, Papyrus." I frown. "He's still a kid, you know? Humans don't stay the same forever like monsters do, Russ... He's still just a kid." 

"And Toriel is taking care of him!" He whispers back, hurt. "Why do you care now to be back in his life, back in our life, huh? Just because he got hurt? Frisk, you had no business showing up, and you know it." 

My heart skips in my chest. He'd never been this severe before.. "'OUR' life?" I hiss back. "As far as I remember, he doesn't know who you really are either. What makes you think you can just hang around? I at least had good reason to do what I did..." 

He grinds his teeth, looking away, frustrated. He exhales heavily and places his face in his hands. "If we're going to talk about this, we might as well go outside," he whispers through his fingers. "The both of them could use the sleep that they're getting now."

Begrudgingly, I nod, and attempt to shift out from underneath Kris's body. Slowly, I set his head on the pillow and walk away, Papyrus's arm bracing the door open.

\----

The patio door shuts behind him. Rain pounds on the top of the tin roof and I wrap my arms around myself. It's freezing out here. 

He stands, hands in his jean pockets. The mustard yellow sweater he had on complimented his age old red scarf, and I attempt to push down my interest in him, even after all this time. I'm too upset to care. 

"So what now, huh?" I say, looking up at him. "What do you want me to say? That I regret the choices we made? That I regret leaving you and Kris and all of the life I'd ever known? Huh? Would that make it better?" I shudder. 

He frowns, offering his scarf to me. "No, Frisk, I just wanted it to have end--"

I swipe the scarf from his hand and interrupt him, "What? Ended differently than it did? Too bad," I growl. "You remember what that was like! There was no way I was going to stay here and watch monsterkind get bullied and shoved into a corner by society! There was no way I could've sat by and watched that happen! We could've never taken care of Kris, and you know it. I had to do something! Monsters were getting slaughtered left and right! Kris would've been next! Papyrus, I had to choose!" I cough, feeling the heat of my emotions flood into my face. 

He freezes. "You thought you had to choose? I didn't have a choice! I have lived here since we got out of the Underground and since Kris was born and had to watch him grow up in someone else's arms, in someone else's care! Sans is more of his father at this point than I am! How is that a choice?!" He seethes. "You never tried to make it work. We could've been a team, we could've stayed together... but you left us all before anyone had a chance to help you!" 

He takes a step closer to me, now towering. I'd never seen him truly angry before, but I felt this was as close as I'd ever get. Still, there's an overwhelming energy emanating from him, and it felt more upset than angry. 

"...Frisk, I loved you... and I just... I wanted us. I wanted us to be happy and take on the world together. I wanted..." his voice breaks. 

"Don't..." I shudder. "Don't do this to me," I felt my heart begin to shatter. A sob works its way into my throat, and I try to swallow it. 

He wraps his long arms around my shoulders and pulls me in. I let him do it, and I stay silent. I didn't have words. Too many 'should haves' and 'could haves' worked their way into my subconscious and I couldn't control them anymore. 

"Papyrus, I'm so sorry. I just wanted the best for everyone, even if it meant I wasn't in the picture... I had no clue it'd end up like this." I croak, voice quavering. I inhale sharply and breathe in the musty smell of his sweater, arms around his back. "Maybe I should just leave... I only came to see Kris get better. I didn't mean to intrude..." I look up at him, and he's looking in the distance, tears rolling down his cheekbones. 

"Please don't leave... not yet. I think somehow you were meant to be here."

"...maybe." I exhale, hugging him tighter.


	6. Alphys

I frown clenching my fist. "What do you mean you can't find it?" I shout, standing still. 

She cowers behind the computer desk. "S-Sans! I al-already t-t-told you! Th-the supply c-closet... it was, uh, empty! Nothing... uh, un-unusual about it h-happened--"

"Alphys, I'm going to ask you once, nicely, okay?" I quiet my voice. "If we don't find the main entrance, or even an entrance into this place, then it's possible it could crop up in places where humans live. All the hard work Frisk has done will be worthless," I plead convincingly. I can't be interested in the effect on humans. I only need to know to save my own skin. Well, bones. 

"I'm telling you, this place, this, Dark World, it's no good, okay? If we just let it die, the consequences it could have don't just affect monsters, it affects those who stayed in the underground and all of the people here on the Surface." I finish, sitting in the chair aside from her desk. "Alphys, we need to find another way in."

"W-what about Kris? H-he found it before, he could be the bridg--"

"We're NOT sending him back. Did you see how he came out? He could be killed next time!" 

"Sans, I think that's the only way. We can't track the timelines here like we did in the Underground. This place doesn't even have a timeline. There's only the one, uh, at least we've found." She steadies, after typing on the computer. "M-maybe if you took a party of p-people, you could help him stay safe."

I huff. "Fine. But I'm not happy about it." I don't want to go back there... I don't want to remember how life there was... that's why we're here... on the surface... I shake my head of the thoughts and think of what is next. 

I don't want to go back to the Dark World.


	7. Preparation

"Sans, you've got to be kidding me," I say, pacing back and forth in his living room. "That is NOT an optio-"

"It's our only option, Frisk! I can't just teleport myself there. That's not how it works." He exhales. "Besides, who knows. This could be good for all of you, with all of the, you know." 

I stop pacing and stare into the hearth. "Why is this happening now? How many other worlds are there, Sans?" I push my hands farther into my jean pockets. Other than this, it was nice to wear informal things again, becoming myself again. I had become so engrained with working, that I had forgotten what being normal felt like.

"Listen kid, I can't tell you exactly how many there are. One decision and there's 2. Something else and there's 50. I can't predict that. But what I can tell you is that if we don't attempt to help this world, there could be things far worse than Kris getting some scrapes and bruises." He finishes, sitting down in front of the flames. He hugs his knees to his chest and pats the floor for me to sit. 

I sit, and lean against him, trying to take it all in. "Who's going back then? Us three, Kris and the girl? That's a huge party." I yawn, trying to relax. "I'm not entirely sure that Papyrus should come. He seems a little more uneasy than he used to be, is everything okay?" 

He shrugs. "I dunno. I've never had my heart broke like you did his, Frisk. He's not been the same since you both stopped talking for good. And that was 5 years ago." 

"He couldn't stop taking about you when you came back yesterday. It was, 'Should I talk to her? Take her out for dinner? I don't know Sans,' and other things like that the entire night." He shifts, looking sideways at me. "You better not string him along, Frisk. It won't end well for you. The first time, I get it. Lots of stress, lots of killing, something had to give... but now, its different. Don't fuck with my brother's heart." 

I nod. "I understand. I don't know how I feel either, okay? If Kris is our only common ground at this point, then we should think about something else, but... I feel like things are gonna settle out, you know?" I shrug. "I just need for him to be satisfied with himself. I know I can't do that anymore." I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling. "This will be some adventure, huh?"

He smirks, poking at the fire. "Just like old times."


	8. Fallen Down

Snow raged outside the window. It had gotten colder all of the sudden, and the sky had turned grey and angry. "Is this what Ralsei meant when he said bad things would happen?" The girl mentioned. She seemed genuine, but she was sarcastic in tone. 

Kris shrugged. He didn't seem convinced either. 

"I think it's just a weird storm pattern," I say, packing a small sling of items. Mostly meds for Kris, but some other basic first aid things too. "It is November, you know."

She huffs and crosses her arm, leaning on the wall. "Yeah, yeah. I know." She seemed nervous, but I wasn't sure why. She had seemed so eager to go back when Kris talked to her...

"Frisk, you ready?" Sans asks, bumping into me. He's wearing his normal blue hoodie and a pair of longer pants. He seems much more rested than the past few days. 

I huff and cinch the pack to my shoulder, nodding. I pull the edges of the leather coat together and zip them, inhaling the familiar smell of the underground. It still lingered after all these years. 

I pat Kris on the back and give him an encouraging thumbs up. He smirks back and gestures to Susie, who nods back and walks out the door, leading the pack. I follow shortly behind Kris and listen as the the brothers walk behind me, silent and full of tension. I feel similarly. 

In walking to the school, I watch as it begins to snow lightly, and it crunches under my feet. No one spoke. 

The building is warm when we walk inside, and the lights are bright, as if class were to happen today if it hadn't been canceled due to the threat of snow. Susie takes a deep breath as we approach the door, and stops, smirking at Kris. "This is it, huh?" 

He nods, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" He asks.

She nods. "Not looking forward to seeing you break any more bones,"

He shrugs, leaning on his crutch. "Eh, it doesn't hurt as much as you think. I'm tougher than that." 

I huff gently and open the closet door, looking inside. It's dark, but otherwise normal. "Are you two sure? The lights are just turned off."

Kris nods. "Yeah, just hold on." He walks in, followed by Susie. "Walk as far as you can, and then it should..." he trails as the floor creaks. 

Sans burns a bright blue in the back of the room. "Uh, why don't we let one of us who aren't falling apart make the jump? We don't need either of you in wheelchairs," he breathes. 

I nod in the blackness, agreeing. "Yeah, just let me get this, I've done it before." I joke. I step in front of the kids slowly, and take a few more tentative steps. 

The floor continues to groan, and I watch as both the brothers glow in anxiety from the back of the group. 

I take a few more steps and grunt as I hit the wall. "Uh. Guys?" I call. "There's just a wall here..." The papers on the floor shuffle under my feet.

"Maybe you went too far?" Kris calls, walking my direction. The floor continues to make noises. "We didn't hit a wall..."

"Don't!" I say, putting a hand up. "Stay over there! I don't want you to hurt yourself," I kick the papers out of the way and feel my foot give. "Aw, fu-!" I shout, the crumbling of the floor filling my ears. 

"Frisk!" Voices shout over the roar, but I've already fallen.


	9. Everyone Else Joined the Party

"Damn, get out of the way!" Someone shouts from above. I hear scuffling, but realize that I'm alone.

I cough a couple of times, my lungs aching from the fall. "I'm ok," I croak, voice barely audible. I must have landed on my back, because my breath is gone from my chest and I am staring at a dim light in the distance. I attempt to sit up, but think better of it and lie still, catching my breath. Instead, I listen. 

"Wait, Russ, you can't see anything, you have no idea how far she fell!" I hear Sans hiss. 

I smirk. Papyrus never thought about much before doing. 

"Its not that far. I think it's only about 15 feet." Kris murmurs. "Frisk said the Underground was a lot farther. I'm sure she's ok."

"Well, if you all are done worrying, I've got shit to do, and Kris does too." Susie grunts. 

"Hey, wai--" 

Suddenly I feel crumbles of dry wall from the building hit my face, and I roll over the best I can, covering my head. I swear, if she lands on me...

A loud thud comes from beside me. "Susie!" Kris calls from above. 

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine! Get your ass down here, Kris!" She stands, offering me a hand. "C'mon old lady. Let's go." I huff and take it, dusting myself off. 

"I'm not that old. Besides. You wouldn't be here if it weren't for me." That fall was definitely further than 15 feet. I feel it in my back more than anything. 

"Throw your crutches down, and I'll catch you, eh, gimpy?" She remarks, ignoring me. She adjusts her hair; it always leaned over her eyes it seemed. How did she see?

"I'll be taking those," Sans mutters. 

Susie rolls her eyes and groans. "Fine. Jump on 3, okay, Kris?" 

He agrees and begins to count. Susie broadens her stance and waits, noticing that I'm watching. "Uh, can you catc--?"

"Three!" He shouts, jumping. The pair thud to the ground, Kris grunting. "Ungh, you okay, Susie?" 

"Get off of me and I might tell you."

He scrambles to his feet, wincing as his weight momentarily rests on his weak leg. "Sorry."

I go to help dust him off, and he refuses. "I've got it." I gently recoil. When he was around Susie, he seemed stronger. Like he didn't need anyones help. Its mildly frustrating, but I leave it be. 

"We're next," Papyrus calls from above. We shift away from the approximate landing zone and watch as the brothers fall, landing squarely on their feet. I frown. Not fair. 

Sans hands Kris his crutches, and assumes the head of the group, using a light glow to illuminate the darkness. 

Susie grunts. "Do you even know where we're going? You all walk so slowly!" Bursting in front, she walks into the dimly lit cavern confidently. 

Sans opens his mouth to retort, but obviously thought better of it as we walked along. 

"Don't let her bother you," Kris whispers. "She's really not unbearable ALL the time. Just when you walk slowly." He shrugs. 

I nod and walk along, trailing at the end of the group. Looking around, an intense sense of dread fills my soul, and I realize that this wasn't like the underground. It was worse.


	10. Unfortunate News

As we walk along in the darkness, I begin to feel more and more uncomfortable. It isn't due to the scenery, that's pretty unsettling on its own, but with the strange formations and even stranger creatures, everything feels out of place. I can't shake this feeling of being unsettled from my stomach.

No one really spoke as we walk, the only sounds that are heard are Kris's crutches tapping the ground along with everyone's footsteps. 

"It shouldn't be much further..." Susie grunts, looking around. "I could've sworn that we met Ralsei after the pawns in the corridor..." she trails. 

Kris shrugs. "When we find the castle we know we're headed the right way." He catches up to Susie, hobbling alongside her large steps. "We're not in any hurry, you know." He casts a glance over his shoulder at the brothers and I walking tentatively behind them, but at a distance. "Slow down, huh?" 

"Mmh. I didn't ask to bring your weird family along, they'll just have to keep up." She looks away from him. 

He frowns and falls back behind her, falling silent again. 

"Mmh." Susie grunts. 

We walk a little further, when a pale light shines just beyond the end of the cavern. 

"Hey, that's it!" She exclaims, breaking away from the group in a brisk pace. 

"Hey, wait for me, I can't run, Susie!" Kris shouts, attempting to catch up to her. 

Watching him nearly gallop makes me anxious, as there is more than one opportunity to trip. Papyrus mutters something under his breath and Sans grunts back. I don't really care to hear what it was. 

Sans places a hand on my shoulder as we walk after the children, smirking at me. "Ey, helicopter parent. Knock it off. He's alright." 

I pull away from him. "I'm fine."

He shrugs. "Alright, alright."

As we step out of the cavern, Kris and Susie talk hushedly with a smaller cloaked figure who is pacing back and forth, gesturing worriedly. 

I frown, feeling the tension crackle between them. Kris sits with a huff on a nearby rock, placing his face in his hands, similarly to the way Papyrus had back in the hospital. Susie sticks her arm out to stop the cloaked figure's pacing and then crouches down to hug it. The creature's arms barely make it around Susie's chest. She pets the creature, muttering towards Kris. 

Slowly, the cloaked figure peeks around Susie's shoulder and freezes. It looks at Kris and mumbles something, shrinking even smaller, if it were possible. 

Kris suddenly appears shocked and waves the brothers and I over. I glance at Sans, who seems more tense than anyone else in the group. "Hey, you okay?" I ask gently. 

"Yeah," he huffs. 

The figure tentatively hides behind Susie, only coming forward after she coaxes it. "Go on, tell them." The figure clears its throat and removes the hood of the cloak, leaving a small, fluffy creature underneath a very large hat. It appears to be wearing glasses. 

"H-hello Lightners. I am Ralsei, Prince of Darkness. D-despite my excitement to have you here..." he trails, looking up at Susie, "I...I'm afraid that I have unfortunate news for you."


	11. One of the Things I Never Told You

"So you're telling me," I start, fingers massaging my temples, "That your world is crumbling because one dumb king opened a second fountain of darkness? How does that check out?" I glance at Sans and Papyrus, who seemed preoccupied looking around at the entrance to the castle. Papyrus had his hands in the pockets of his jeans and seemed to be taking everything in, but Sans still glowed a faint shade of blue. I felt the anxiety coming from him in waves. I wonder what was wrong...

"When Kris and Susie came last time, we were able to stop the king's reign, but then that's when things began to get strange. More and more Darkners began to disappear or die, and others became very ill." Ralsei wrings his paws under his cloak. "The land is beginning to crumble, and our infrastructure is breaking down..." his voice breaks. "And I'm supposed to be doing something about it, but I'm just one Prince..." he chokes back a sob and Susie pats him on the back.

"Its okay, Ralsei, we're going to fix it for good." She smiles convincingly. I realize it's the first time I've seen her smile...

I shake myself from my thoughts. "So, we need to destroy the second fountain?" I ask Ralsei quietly.

He sniffles. "Yeah. It's at the very edge of our world..." he points in the distance to a faint light. "But to close it we have to find the Delta Rune. It's located somewhere in the mountains before the fountain... unfortunately I don't know any lore other than that..." he frowns.

I crouch in front of him, offering my hand. "Well, Ralsei, we will help you any way that we can. Our world is affected by what happens here too." I smile.

He takes my hand and holds it, sniffling. "Thank you, Kris and Susie's human friend and, er... skeleton-friends...?"

Kris and I both chuckle. "My name is Frisk, and these are my friends, Sans and Papyrus. We've kind of all been in this situation before, in the Underground."

Ralsei tilts his head at me, clearly not understanding.

"Its another world beneath the human world. My race kind of, er, sealed them into it for eternity, and uh, heh. Yeah." I wince. That is probably not the best way to bring that up.

Sans huffs, growing impatient. "Well, let's go then. We don't need to stick around for calamities to happen." He helps me up, putting his arm in mine. I look at him, beginning to be frazzled. What is his problem?

"Lead the way, Ralsei," he huffs, pulling at Papyrus's arm, gesturing to leave.

I nod to the kids. "We're right behind you." Sans' hand tightens on my arm, and I shoot him a glance as the kids walk alongside Ralsei. Papyrus follows, still not having said much since the fall.

"What is going on with you?" I hiss in his ear, pulling away from him angrily. "You've been nothing but anxious since we got here!" I step in front of him to stop him. He's still a faint shade of blue, and he looks away as I stare at him.

"I've been here before." He says quietly.

I blink. "What?"

He gives a light chuckle. "Frisk, I've been here before. It's been ages, but..." he swallows.

"This is where I came from... before I... we came to the Underground...uh, Russ doesn't remember, he was too little, but..." he shifts uncomfortably.

"We're both Darkners. And we did this."


	12. Field of Hopes and Dreams

Wind whistles at the end of the cavern, a weak red glow emanating from the narrower entrance. The wind is cool, but not cold as it had been before. I take off my leather jacket and tie it around my waist, leaving the sweater on top.

Walking through the caverns... we hadn't seen many other Darkners. Ralsei only grew more and more uncomfortable, wringing his paws, and talking about how there had at least been guards before, but now they didn't come because they stayed within the castle to protect Lancer. Kris puts a hand on Ralsei's shoulder and smiles. "He probably needs it more than anyone else," he huffed.

My attention shifts from Kris's hand to his body, realizing that he was beginning to sag in posture. His shoulders slumped limply over the crutches, and his back began to curve outward. He's exhausted, I think to myself. We had been walking for a few hours now...

The cavern opens up into a large field covered in strange trees. They have autumn foliage, but seem in the middle of their season. Grass grew, but was also strange in appearance, being more thin and reedy than at home. "Oh wow," Papyrus breathes. He looks around in awe, taking the scene in. "This... this is gorgeous," he whispers.

Kris turns to give a glance, half-smiling. "I thought the same thing too." He looks horrible, as if he were in a lot of pain. His eyes are tired, and his jaw is tightly clenched.

"Hey, uh, let's take a break, huh? This place looks like a great place for a short break for food and maybe a nap." I offer to the group, hoping someone would bite. Kris shoots me a glance.

"That sounds great to me," Susie remarks, plopping down in the grass almost immediately, taking off her boots and rubbing her feet. "I feel like I've walked a hole in my shoes..."

Ralsei agrees, signing as he sits beside Susie, leaning against her shoulder. "I could use a nap," he confesses.

Kris huffs somewhat frustratedly and hobbles to sit by a nearby tree. He sets his crutches against it and plops down. I glance at Sans and Papyrus with worry, and they look at one another and shrug. "I've got it," I breathe, headed towards Kris.

\---

"Here, these will help," I say, pouring the pills onto my hand. I hold them out to him.

He looks at them and huffs. "We stopped for me, didn't we?" He asks, taking them slowly. "Maybe I shouldn't have come. I mean, with my leg and being on crutches..." he frowns, looking at his hands.

"We couldn't be here without you," I say gently, patting his shoulder.

He wilts a little more. "Frisk, I feel... scared. Like I don't know what I'm doing this time. Last time, we just tried to get out... but now..." he leans into my shoulder.

I pat his head, petting his hair. "It's okay. I'm scared too, Kris. But..." I pause, looking at him sideways. "We wouldn't be here if we hadn't been so brave before. The best things in life are terrifying."

Like him, like the Underground, like loving Papyrus. All of those things were terrifying to me...

He shifts, closing his eyes, exhaling. "Frisk, can you come home more often? I think everyone misses you like Mom misses Asriel."

I smirk. "Well, do you miss me?"

He smirks back, and I melt a little. "I miss you a lot."

\---

Kris had since fallen asleep. I put my leather jacket over him and stood up, stretching. I look around, noticing that Susie and Ralsei had also fallen asleep, a long grass strand still sticking out of Susie's mouth.

Sans and Papyrus talked quietly in a shorter patch of grass, Sans laid back and pointing at the top of the cavern, and Papyrus sat, listening. I sit beside him, exhaling. He looks at me and smiles. I smile back and place my hand on top of his.

"So, what did you mean by earlier?" I ask Sans. He shifts, looking over.

"Mmh?"

"You know, about you two having been here before?"

Sans glances at Papyrus. "Eh... yeah, okay, so..." he sits up. "What I meant to say was that We've been here before, and it was never a good time while we were here." He looks at his hands. "When we were younger... this world was much different."

He pauses, looking at Papyrus. "And it's going to take a moment to explain."


	13. The Deltarune

"Long ago, many monsters and humans lived here. They lived in harmony, used magic, and practiced both light and dark sides of it. Nothing changed for a long time." Sans glances at Papyrus, who was listening intently. I lean into him a little more.

"That is, until the humans from the surface came. They were tall and pale and intelligent. They used science rather than magic to perform acts. They called themselves "the Delta." They were good at speaking and carried many precious and foreign items that the people here had never seen. Upon finding this place, they immediately intrigued the Lightners here."

"Lightners wanted more knowledge and to gain more power in this world, even knowing that it would skew the balance of magic. They welcomed The Delta, claiming that they were helping them by giving refuge from the Battle of Humans and Monsters." He shifts. "Which is completely false."

"So I guess the Darkners didn't care for that? But why does that relate...?" I ask.

"Just listen!" Papyrus hushes me. I frown.

"The Darkners began to notice the shift in the magic and all of the changes that came with it. Crops began to fail, children were falling ill, much like they are now... The Darkners begged their light-sided friends to restore the balance and relinquish the art of science."

"Of course, they refused. Instead, The Delta rallied for help with the war on the surface, and nearly all of the Lightners went, with the promise of new lands, new knowledge, and more power."

"One of The Delta, who was the royal scientist at the time, grew exceptionally close to one of his Darkner companions, Madame Death herself. As the war raged, she pleaded that he stay in the caverns with her and use science to help save the remaining creatures. Reluctantly, he agreed, and began to do what he could to help..."

"Wait, you mean Death herself? Like, the actual "Death." Not some person who was just named that?" I ask, intrigued. Lie down in front of the brothers, staring at the twinkling gems on the roof of the cavern. It was so peaceful...

"Yeah, pretty much." He lies back too. "Except, as the death toll got bigger and bigger, she could no longer stay in the caverns. She left to help in the War while her Surface companion stayed. He worked and worked, using every method he knew possible to help the people in the caverns... he nearly drove himself crazy, until, from the souls of those that had since passed on, he was able to create something new in all of the chaos..."

"And? What was it?" Papyrus pushes, staring at Sans.

Sans chuckles. "Me. And shortly after, you, Russ."

I huff. "Why?"

"We were crafted from souls of lost Darkners, but created with science and determination, things only found on the Surface. This new source of energy, both from magic and science... it balanced out the magics in the caverns. Lightners no longer needed to be present to even the balance, we provided enough stability."

"That was until the Lightners and humans of the Delta sealed the surface monsters into the Underground with a powerful magic spell. The spell was cast using Lightner magic, channelled through the Delta Rune, the most powerful amplifier of magic in any of our worlds."

"But, the spell came with a price. All of the monsters may have been sealed in the Underground at Mt. Ebott, but the Lightners, as a repayment to the magics of the caverns, were also locked out of their home here.

"The Darkner humans that stayed began to become feared by their Darkener monster brethren. If the Lightner humans had turned on their Lightner monster friends and the monsters on the surface, why wouldn't they turn too?"

Sans shudders. "That's when things got really ugly around here. I'd never seen death until that point. The monsters slaughtered the entire race of humans here. That's why there's no human Darkners. That's why Ralsei assumed Kris and Susie were Lightners... there haven't been any here for over a millenia, and I doubt that many still exist. I'm sure the lineage has been lost somewhere in The Delta's people. I'm sure there's Lightners that don't even remember where they came from..." he trails, glancing at me.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you and Kris both were Lightners." He smirks. "Regardless, that gets us to why we're important, finally. Russ and I... we grew up constantly being... er," he stops uncomfortably.

"Sans?" I put my hand in his. "Its okay..." he had begun to glow, but just faintly.

"Yeah, I know. I just remember a lot of testing by our creator, Gaster. There was a lot of... heh, pain. We were constantly subjected to working on balancing the magic, which was extremely exhausting and draining. When one of us gave out... the other got it next... finally, after several years, the balance had been restored. Gaster had found a way to transfer energy from the Lightners on the Surface to the caverns. We were no longer needed, and I couldn't stay any longer. All of the horrible things that happened here..."

"I couldn't watch Russ take it anymore." He looks up at Papyrus, who was crying silently. Giant tears ran down his cheekbones, and he too was glowing, but a faint shade of orange. "We had to leave, Frisk... but when we did, Gaster told us there would only be so many lightners for so long... that when they disappeared... so would the balance."

"Where are they now?" I say.

He shrugs. "They just assimilated into The Delta's people, I guess. A lot of heritage and history gets lost in a few millennia. The caverns call for them to return, but there are none left, at least I know of. But if what Ralsei said is true, with Kris and Susie being the Heroes of Light, then who knows."

"But if he's just guessing... I don't think it'll be an easy way out of this one. Not like the Underground."

I frown. "So... if by combining magic and science is the only way to break the balance, what are we supposed to do now? What will finding the Deltarune help?"

He frowns. "As long as we're here, the balance becomes a little more even. But that won't last forever... the Deltarune can be reversed to stop the flow of dark magic from the second fountain and fix the balance for good."

I nod. "Then that's what we do."

Sans nods back in response. "We can try."

Silence follows, and I exhale, closing my eyes. At least now we had a plan. Papyrus finally lies down as well, huffing. I smirk. We could all use a nap.

Slowly, I fade into sleep, the sound of both Sans's and Papyrus's breathing calming me. This is almost like it had been before...

Suddenly, I am jolted from my sleep to a blood curdling screech. Papyrus jolts awake too, looking around, wide eyed.

I jerk my head to the noise, heart pounding. In a flash of bright blue, Sans is tackling Kris to the ground, screaming.

"You bastard!" He shouts, lashing at him with attack after attack. My heart thuds even louder and I realize I am running towards them, screaming.

"KRIS!" I shout, falling between them, covering Kris with my body. He grunts underneath me and I scream as one of Sans's blows land on my back. I wince at the slice and clutch Kris tighter.

He shifts, giving a soulless snarl. "I guess you can have this instead then!" He grins, plunging his short sword into my abdomen. I don't move, only noticing the gaping hole in his chest before he shoves me off the sword onto Sans's feet.


	14. And We're Paying For It

I'm not sure how long I stare at the ceiling. After the blow, the only thing I could feel was the sizzling pain in my stomach, and an intense dread settle in my soul. I felt my breath hitch as I struggle to find air, and listen to sounds of everyone else shouting.

Before I could realize what was happening, Papyrus scooped my limp body up, carrying me away from the scuffle. I watch his eyes flick to me and then back to where he was walking over and over again. He didn't console me, he just clenched his jaw and set me down in a flattened patch of grass.

"Shh, you're gonna be okay." He says shakily. "Why do you always gotta be the one getting in the middle of stuff, huh?" He laughs, tears welling at the edges of his eyes.

The searing in my chest only gets worse. "Heh. It just happens sometimes." I croak, reaching for his hand. He takes it, squeezing it. The other hand is pressed into the stab wound, blood welling around his fingers.

"Aw shit, Frisk," he whispers, pushing harder. "Just hold on a little longer." He screams over his shoulder for help, beginning to glow brightly.

Flickers of black crowd the edge of my vision, and I grip Papyrus's hand more. "Russ, hey," I manage. He flicks his gaze back to me, "Shh, what is it?" He asks, forcing a smile, leaning in closer to me.

I let go of his hand and place my fingers on his jawbone, remembering how they had fit so well there before. Smirking, I pull him to me and press my lips to his teeth. He lingers for a moment, tears falling even heavier. "I love you, Papyrus." I choke.

His eyes widen. "Frisk, I..."

"Here, I can help," Ralsei cries, plopping down beside me, sobbing audibly. His white paws shake as they press onto my wound, and he winces. "I just have to... eugh," he closes his eyes, and a soft green glow emanates from him and I realize his face is cut, right along his jaw. It stained his white fur rusty.

"What are you...?" Papyrus shakes.

A warm sensation fills where there was only pain before, but then it sears even more painfully than the stab had. Black crowds my vision more, and I give in to it.

\---

Sans-

"I could've swore we killed you already!" I growl, pinning Kris's body to the tree. His head hangs limply, a slash against his shoulder, tearing his armor.

"You can never kill me, I am always here. Where you are, where she is, I am here." The voice growls back from Kris's body. "You're only killing him by fighting me... I'll find another body, another soul." Kris's body creaks and he wheezes sickly, his shoulder pouring crimson onto his chestplate.

"Fuck," Susie murmurs. "What the fuck is your problem! Who are you?! Get out of Kris and fight me yourself, you coward!" She growls, hands tight on her axe.

The voice chuckles. "You obviously know nothing of how this works." It says. "If Kris hadn't been so accommodating, I may have never seen you again, Sans," it chuckles.

Susie freezes, "You know this joker?" Glancing at me, she visibly wilts.

"Unfortuntely," I say. "What have you got to gain by possessing Kris, Chara? You still getting off by possessing children? Can't manage anyone else?" I joke.

"This is MY world, Sans. Gaster may have made you here, but this is MY story. You may have been able to keep me away in the Underground, but I am much stronger here. As long as Kris is living, so will I."

Kris gives a painful scream and the voice does as well. Kris begins to sob, and I notice that his soul moved wildly in the dirt at his feet.

"Oh my god," Susie whispers, picking it up. It jumped in her hands and she clasped it tighter. "Eugh, gross." Frowning, she shoves it back into the cavern in Kris's chest, pulling back a bloodied hand. She gags. "This is some crazy shit," wiping her hand on her jacket. "Sans, what the FUCK is going on?" She turns to me, a little paler than before.

"Apparently, Kris has been into some things that he shouldn't have been into." I say. "And we're all going to pay for it," I say, looking at my brother pacing over Frisk in the distance, his once warm yellow sweater splattered with crimson.


	15. Chara

Papyrus--

I stare at nothing as Ralsei works over Frisk. Her hand still clutches mine, but more limply than before.

How did this happen? Just when I thought I had her back in my life... I feel hot tears trail onto my cheeks. I wanted her so desperately, for it to be just us again...

Ralsei's green glow slowly fades, and he rubs his eyes with his forearm, his hands still covered in Frisk's blood. "I think she's going to be okay," he whispers, looking quite exhausted. He glances at me staring at nothing and frowns. "I'm so sorry, Papyrus. I didn't mean for any of this to happen..."

"It's not your fault, Ralsei," I manage, squeezing Frisk's hand. "Thank you for healing her...." I murmur, voice thin and stressed. The sound was monotonous and empty.

"Yeah, no problem. If there's anything that I can contribute, it's this." He sniffs, rubbing his jaw. "Ouch," he murmurs, wincing.

"Here, let me look," I say, putting my palm on it, gently pushing the fur out of the way. The blood was caked, and I frown. "Sorry it hurts, I'm just trying to get a better look..."

He winces. "It's okay. I don't think it's deep, I just think it's a little longer than I had hoped... Kris got me good, didn't he?"

"I don't think Kris did this..." I murmur, still separating fur from blood. If Sans was attacking him, something else was going on. I wasn't sure what, but it chilled me to think about it. "I think you'll be okay. We need to get you somewhere to get this cleaned up. Can Darkeners heal themselves?" I ask. I knew that for Sans and myself, we couldn't heal ourselves, but we could heal each other.

He frowns. "No, someone else has to do it. Are you a healer?" He sits down, listening to Frisk's chest. "Maybe your magic can help her...?"

I stand up, looking away. "I, er. It used to. I gave it up in order to, uh, have a kid. You know, equivalent magic trade stuff. She isn't magic so..." I shrug. There's so much I gave up to be with her... and it still wasn't enough. I wouldn't stop though. I knew I was supposed to be with her. I was supposed to be the one protecting her... I lean in to kiss her forehead, frowning. "We thought it worth it with Sans around. Like it might never be an issue." I feel so drained. "I can try to help you though," I whisper, focusing my magic into my palms. A glow builds, and I press one of them to his jaw. He winces, pulling away.

"Ow, that hurts worse than the cut..." he breathes, looking up at me. I frown. "It's rough, I know. I haven't done it in so long... I'll try to be more gentle." He leans into me again, and I focus harder, trying to be as warm and soft with my hands as I can. He still winces, but then relaxes a little more, exhaling. "Ahm, that's better," He murmurs. He leans on my shoulder, snuggling into my side. I realize that he's not really that old. He couldn't be more than a quarter of the way through his adolescent years... He was just a kid. He pressed into me, still shuddering. "So, wait. A monster? With a human? How?" He asks, glancing at Frisk. "No monster has ever had a child with a human, they would be half-breds! They're dangerous!" He adjusts his glasses nervously. "I hope it's well looked after. Is it on the Surface?"

I smile softly. I didn't want to lie to this creature... "Uh, yeah. He's uh... he's taken care of by our monster friends when we're not around... he's a great kid," I smile. "Do you know when she'll wake up?" I murmur, changing the subject. Where was Sans with Kris and Susie?

Raslei shrugs. "She's a human... so I'm not sure. Sometimes magic isn't enough..." he does a double take over my shoulder, alarmed. "Papyrus..." he says, watching something behind me. "L-look..."

I turn, watching as Susie carries Kris towards us. He's clutching her tightly, groaning painfully. Sans isn't far behind, still glowing blue residually.

She gently sets Kris down beside Frisk, his fist tight on his shoulder underneath the slashed shoulderplate. He rocks himself, tears rolling down his face. Susie kicks him in the back. "Hey! Stop your bitching, you did this!" She growls, looking at Ralsei angrily. "You can fix him, right? With your magic green stuff?"

He nods. "Yeah, just, go see if you can find some moss. It'll help to act like a bandage," he says, shushing Kris. "Hey, you're okay. I'm going to take off your shoulderplate, okay?"

Susie nods. "Yeah, whatever." She stomps off, axe clutched heavily in front of her. She was obviously still terrified.

"Moss won't help, but it'll keep her busy," Ralsei wrinkles his nose, looking at the cuts over Kris's body. "Sans... where all did you hit him?" He asks, voice rising in worry. I glance over him, most of the other cuts are minimal compared to the rip in his shoulder.

"I... I don't know..." he whispers. He looked decimated, sitting in front of Frisk. "Oh... oh my god," he croaks, hand gently pressed onto Frisk's belly.

I put a palm on his shoulder. "She's okay. Ralsei healed her." He nods. "I just... sorry. Habit," he shivers. His shoulders were pinned high, stress coming from him in waves. I leave him be, sitting on the other side of Kris.

He grunts painfully as Ralsei removes his plate, and I give him my hand to squeeze. "Here, it'll help," I breathe, looking at the fear in his eyes. How did I ever let this happen? How did I give up everything to have him, and he doesn't even know who I am to him? I pull his hair back from his face, wincing at all of the marks that were there. His deep hazel eyes lock with mine, and he whimpers. So much fear and hurt swirled in them.

Something breaks inside me, and I remember what it was like to have those eyes on me, when he was so so small, curled up in my arms. I shake myself to the present. "You're gonna be okay," I soothe, watching as Ralsei presses his hands onto his shoulder. I follow the trail of blood to his chest and hold my breath. This much I could do. Slowly, I press my palms to his chest, and I inhale. "This may sting just a little,"

His chest still heaves with his sobs, and I focus into my hands. They glow brightly, but nothing happens. I freeze, focusing a little more. "C'mon..." Why wasn't it working? Why couldn't I help him? It was just Frisk I couldn't help... I grunt and attempt a bit longer... nothing changes, and eventually the magic fades out. Why...?

Kris grunts and puts his own palm over his chest, and the gash disappears nearly instantly. I peel my fingers away, feeling empty. What kind of parent was I? I... I can't...?

"It's nothing," he grunts, squeezing my hand again. "Agh!" He shouts, pulling away from Ralsei.

"Sorry," He frowns. "Kris, what happened back there? Who was that?" He asks, peeling away Kris's shirt to see his shoulder better. I wince at the numerous scars on his chest and ribs... he was also thinner than I remembered... What was Toriel doing with him? Where was I, was probably the better question.

"Its... well." He swallows, trying to keep his composure. "It's Chara. She promised me that if I let her sometimes have my soul that she could help me be stronger and smarter like Asriel... She knew Asriel when he was a kid in the Underground... I just..." He wrinkles his nose. "She said that I could have my own world where I could make anything happen, all I had to do was trust her. I had no clue it would end up in me hurting other people like this..." He reaches for Frisk, placing his hand in hers. "I... I didn't mean to hurt her or Ralsei or anyone!" He bites his lip, trying not to sob. "I'm so sorry," he whispers.

"W-when did this start, Kris?" I ask shakily, unable to contain my fear for him. I can't rip my eyes away from his scarred chest. Claw marks around his sternum scared me the most, some of them dark and purple, hinting that this had been happening for a long time. I force myself to keep my hand away, but all I wanted to do was to touch them, heal him.

"You've started something, and now you have to fix it," Sans mutters. "You've let the strongest demon I know into your soul, and unless we can find a way to save or reset you, she's going to stay. It's quite literally kill or be killed. You have to have enough determination to get her out." He frowns. "That's at least how it worked in the Underground... This place is so different, I can't wrap my skull around it,"

"That's because it IS different," gruffs a voice from behind a tree. The creature steps out, walking with a cane. He looked old, too old to be out here. Susie waved apologetically from behind him.

"My name is Seam," he offers a hand to Sans. "And I think I have some of the answers you're looking for."


	16. Seam

Sans---

The place was quiet and quaint, and seemed to be an abandoned church of sorts. I racked my brain for any recollection of this place, but I had none. 

Papyrus huffed beside me, Frisk hung over his shoulder. "Heavy?" I ask, glancing at him.

He shakes his head. He was just upset.

I huff in response, still looking around. Some hundreds of books lined the shelves, and random ones were opened on tables throughout the hall. "Seam, what do you know about the Underground?"

Seam quietly clears a place to lie Frisk, humming gently. "Honestly I didn't know much at all until a strange someone appeared. They appeared when I was just getting hired as the court magician..." he says, laying out a large blanket over the table. "The woman can lie in the bed over there while I check the Prince,"

Ralsei perks up, hands gesturing, "Nonono, I'm okay! Papyrus healed me mostly, Kris needs the most help," he frets pulling his hat a little more over his face. "Its okay..." Why was he acting so strange...?

Seam chuckles. "Much like your parents, huh, little one? Always putting others before yourself. I miss them." He gestures for Kris to sit instead.

Ralsei huffs and follows Papyrus with Frisk, helping her to get settled. He obviously wanted nothing to do with Seam...

Kris also appeared nervous, before sitting on the table, his skin underneath his ripped shirt sticky with smudged, dried blood. "It's my fault..." he whispers, picking at the blood under his fingernails.

Seam only raised an eyebrow, looking him over. "Fault for what?" He glances at me and reaches for a cloth, gently pressing it into Kris's skin. He recoils for a moment, but relaxes once the warmth of the cloth peels away layers of blood.

"I hurt Frisk and Ralsei," he admits, quietly.

Seam huffs and smirks, "You're a powerful fighter then, Ralsei hasn't been hit in a bit."

I sit in a chair nearby and watch, as Susie sits near me, picking at her small scrapes. "You know, Kris isn't a half bad kid. He's quiet, but he hits hard." She grunts, pushing her hair from her face. Her yellow eyes squint. "You know his mom, right? I saw you two in the store talking over coffee. She's an okay teacher,"

"Yeah, I've known her for a bit. We knew each other in the Underground." I venture, glancing over her. She was about Kris's age, but she was so tall.... "Kris had always been one to quietly get himself into trouble, but nothing like this before. I doubt Tori knew." I admit. "You know anything about him talking with Chara?"

She thinks. Her fingers twitch nervously in her lap. "He started being late for school a couple of months ago. Even later than me. He always seemed exhausted, too tired to participate in class... even after school he stopped hanging out with Noelle. They were study partners. He would just leave with Toriel. I guess Chara had an effect on him that way," she murmurs. "I had no clue he was possessed, I just thought he was depressed from not knowing who his real parents were. He talks about it constantly."

I feel apprehension grow in my gut. Instead I shrug. "I didn't get the choice to have parents, and I turned out alright, eh?" I offer.

She shrugs. "I just knew it got him down sometimes is all, being the only human in town and everything."

Kris shudders as Seam places a warm cloth over his cut in his shoulder.

"...this is darkner magic..." Seam whispers. "Who cut you?" He looks behind him at me, eyes narrowing. "You're a darkner...? But you came from the surface... how interesting," he murmurs, turning back to Kris.

How did he know I cut him? "Yeah, well. It's a really long story," I gruff.

He nods. "I have been around since the long stories started, but I understand." His shaking paws finish wiping away the layers from Kris's skin. "I fought in the Battle, you know. Before the Knight came, but it seems now they're back." He says over his shoulder towards me. "This mark in his chest... you have brought the other half of them here." He fingers the rip in Kris's shirt, frowning. "Oh dear. Many more questions than answers, I'm afraid, little one. Let me get you a fresh shirt."

Seam turns and hobbles to a short drawer where he pulls out a clean muslin shirt. He shakes it out and hobbles back, handing it to him. "Clean shirts are better than nothing," he murmurs.

Kris looks over his shoulder at Ralsei and Papyrus worrying over Frisk. Ralsei continued to heal her while Papyrus sat, holding her hand.

Enough was enough. This cryptic monster and his tales... "Seam, how much do you know about the Underground? I'm trying to get my bearings here and..."

"So, you need to rid him of the soul, yes? And seal the second fountain?" He rasps, sitting tiredly in a chair. His purple fur stuck out in more places than others.

"Er... partly. We also need to save and possibly rese--"

He chuckles. "Not with the Knight here. They control all of these things. Underground seems friendly, now, doesn't it, Sans?"

Well, shit. There goes trying to patch everyone up and buy more time to fix this... "Yeah." Is all I can manage.

Seam nods and pats Kris's booted foot beside him, standing painfully. "It's getting late. Let's put everyone to bed and you and I can talk, Sans. There's probably many things you'd like to understand. There's many things I would like to understand as well."


	17. Old Saves, Same Endings

Papyrus--

I pet her hair softly, my fingers tracing down to her jawline. Slowly, her face shifted in my hands and the corners of her mouth twitched in a smirk. I smile back, relaxing. "Ah, glad to see you again," I murmur.

She croaks something quietly. Unable to hear it, I lean in, her breath brushing my cheek. "What was that?"

"It's nice to still be me," she grins. "You know, I had my hand around the save from the house for so long..." she coughs, rolling to face me a little better. "I thought it might be better to just go back and undo all of this..." I try not to act surprised, because she's right. It concerned me that she would give all this up that easy, but it scared me more that she seemed so calm about it.

"The last save? From just after we got out of the Underground?" I smirk. "That's a long way to go back... nearly 20 years, Frisk..."

She shrugged, clearing her throat. "It'd be worth it to save Kris from her..." she trails. "How is he?" Her eyes were tired and strained, but she sat up painfully anyways, leaning on my side. Her body was warm, warmer than it had been, and it was nice to have her near again. In fact, we hadn't been this close since... well, before Kris.

"He's okay, well, at least right now," I admit, watching his chest gently rise and fall as he pressed his back into Susie's. She grumbled something and scooted away, and I chuckle softly. "Those two, well, three, make quite a team," I murmur. Ralsei huffed, curled up at the feet of the two larger bodies. "Kris seems so sure of himself here... reminds me of someone, hm...?" I joke, nudging her. She grunts.

"Eh, well. It's just like that I guess. Kid didn't fall too far from the family tree." She shifts, giving another sickly cough. "Ugh, this sucks," she whispers. "I always hate the way getting stabbed feels..." She rolls back onto the bed, looking up at me. "Do you think it's worth it? To go back to that point...?"

I look away, frowning, watching as Seam and Sans walk into a room separate from us. That gave me a bad feeling...

She pulled on my sleeve. "Russ, hey. I need you, okay? I need... some help." She huffs.

I frown, still looking away. "You want to know if I think you should go back to that save, huh?" I feel the apprehension growing in my gut. She is always running from her problems! She uses that damned save like it's a free ride, like it's the solution to everything... I exhale frustratedly, rubbing my temple. "Frisk, honestly... I don't know!" I say harshly.

She lets go of my sleeve, "...oh." Her voice breaks.

I recoil, putting my arms into my lap. "Mm, sorry. It's just... Frisk, you can't keep running from these things. You can't keep trying to reset to the good part. I know things were easier when, well, it was just me and you, and just... life without the difficult things. To go back when monsterkind was safe on the surface, before we had Kris, before we knew everything was going to work out... when you were younger... all of those things... Frisk," I falter, looking at her. "You can't look at me dead in the eye and tell me that you would change those things. If you follow the same path at each save, you're going to end up in the same place! This is the reality you chose. This is us, and this is Kris, and this is Chara, and Asriel, and everything. You chose this, and this is how it turns out. Going back... Frisk, that won't change anything, and you and I both know that."

She sits up indignantly, "We could save him! We could stay together, and raise him like we wanted to, and we could keep him safe... We could still... be together..." she frowns, hand clutching mine. "Fuck, Russ," she breathes, realizing the weight of it all. "You're right..."

"The only way to change this..." I frown, looking at her hand in mine, noticing her ring still hung around her ring finger. I thumb it softly, feeling a pang in my chest. "...is to reset and forget we ever had all of this. I mean, I won't know any better, right? What would it kill me to never know about all this? Maybe I'd be better off..." I trail, feeling tears well in the corners of my eyes. "God, this sucks." I look over her, rubbing her long, dark, wavy hair from her face. It was stuck by blood in some places, but I gently pushed it back anyway. It cut me deep to see her this way...

"No." She states, grunting as she sits up again painfully, grabbing my jaw with both hands. "No, Russ. I can't do this without you." She thumbs my jaw and pulls me in for a hug, wrapping me close. "That's the only thing I can't change. We were meant to be together long before we ever existed. I just feel it in my bones, you know?" She huffs, still hugging me tight.

I exhale. "Yeah, me too."


	18. Strange Someone

Sans--

"Strange someone, huh?" I frown, looking at the coffee mug in my palm. "I've met some strange someones in my lifetime, but nothing like that..." I lie.

"Are you sure? You know, come to think of it, he kinda looks like the two of you. Not quite exactly, but definitely close. Shame you never heard of him,"

"Did he have a name?" I ask, looking up at him. "Like, a real name, outside of 'Strange Someone'? There's plenty of strange creatures in my life, I assure you."

Seam thinks. His brow furrows and the stitches there pucker, adding to his demeanor. "I think his name was Gaster. W. D. Gaster, that is. He was known for taking care of the Darkners here during the war on the surface. Then he disappeared."

"Hmm, well, that would make some sense," I admit. "Seam, how old are you?"

His eyes narrow. "I feel as if you're about to tell me something I don't want to hear. But alas, I came to be under the kings' reign in the short years after the purge of Lightners from this land."

I sip the coffee tentatively. "Well, that means that you're older than me, at least by a few years." I chuckle. "I knew Gaster because he made my brother and I. It's a long story, but those 'powerful sorcerers' that healed the imbalance in the magicks? That was us.When your people were killing off and banishing hundreds of Lightners from the Dark World, murdering women and children both, I was here. My brother and I were just kids then. We watched it happen." I shudder.

Seam freezes. "Oh my... this is interesting. Have the both of you come to restore the balance? It only makes sense because the two of you are here, and so is he..."

I raise an eyebrow. Interesting? More like horrifying. Papyrus still had nightmares. "He's here? Gaster? Huh. Crafty old man. How long, and where? He went missing from the Underground a bit back. That's where he slunk off to after things were fine here. Got a job as the royal scientist for the monsters in the Underground. Got into a lab incident... you know, Lightner-science stuff." I shrug. I didn't care to ever see Gaster again. After he fell into that machine he made, I had no idea where he had been. Got no trace of where he scattered himself. Didn't care, honestly.

"Oh, and uh, no. Papyrus and I aren't staying, hopefully. We've got to find some other way to balance things out, you know? And I think a good place to start would be with that awful Knight of yours." I add. "That guy sounds like he's caused a lot of trouble around here."

"More coffee?" Seam offers, standing slowly, attempting to avoid the conversation.

I nod. That didn't bode well. Maybe he supported him.

"You know, I think I saw W.D. hanging around in the field a bit ago. He was walking amongst the trees, he seemed to be admiring the foliage. It is quite pretty this time of year." Seam frowns, pouring my mug. "He was here not to long ago. He doesn't say much anymore. Not since the Knight had come into power, and that was only a bit ago." He sits again with a wince, setting the mug in front of me.

I take it, letting the warmth of it fill my palms. A lazy waft of steam made its way to my face and I could help but relax a little. "So, what purpose does he serve, other than to fuck things up for the rest of you down here?" I sip the coffee, eyes trained on him.

He gruffs. "Mmh. He just showed up one day. Promised to bring balance to the land, and bring back the Lightners, so we could all be together... We only realize now the fault of our actions. We never should have done what we did. Our brethren... we betrayed them. The only real enemies were the Delta. If we had all gone together... who knows how that wretched war would have turned out. The monsters in the Underground might have never been sealed there, and the Knight would have never came... and we wouldn't be suffering now. But alas..." He trails, his frayed whiskers twitching with sadness. "The Knight is slowly destroying this land... the places where there were fountains are, they're crumbling away into an awful blackness."

I can only nod. "Mmh. Then I guess we've got to fight him then, eh?" I chuckle.

He smirks back. "I would've been possible if you hadn't brought Kris back."

I freeze. "What do you mean? Kris found this place, and sealed a fountain while he was here. He knows this place better than any of us."

Seam holds down a dark chuckle. "I didn't see it before, but he has a darkness to him, a darkness that the Knight has. The closer you have all come to the castle, the brighter the fountains glow. He is a soul like the Knight, and he will turn on you, like the Knight did us. I would be careful."

My mind flicks to Chara. Yeah, she's pretty dark, but, that doesn't make any sense why she would have a purpose here... she's a fallen. She came after the war... it doesn't make any sense... I huff. Kris himself was harmless. He could appear mysterious, but he was really just a shy person. "Seam, I promise you, Kris is the least of our worries here... oh, speaking of," I start, "It'd be nice to get some sleep. It's been a long day." I finish, releasing the coffee mug, standing. "We'll talk more in the morning,"

He nods. "Yeah."


	19. What's Left of Me

Kris--

"...go back when monsterkind was safe on the surface, before we had Kris, before we knew everything was going to work out..."

I listen quietly as Papyrus trails, shifting closer to Frisk, voice low and serious.

Did he just say...?

I frown, pressing into Susie more. She was right. They were my parents. This didn't make any sense! Papyrus and Sans had always been like uncles to me, and definitely not Papyrus as a father... and Frisk? She'd just never been around, except the holidays, but even then that was rare. She seemed to keep her distance... and now I knew why.

She never wanted me. She even was willing to reset to before I existed...

"I tried to tell you," Chara coos inside my head. "What did I say? Frisk was never good from the start... she uses those around her to get what she wants, and then when things go bad, she uses her determination to meld it... tsk."

I furrow my eyebrows. "Why didn't she tell me, after all of these years?" I think, shoving Chara to the back of my mind. "I would've thought for sure that Papyrus would've told me..." Papyrus had always been there for me, offering to get me away from the house when Toriel would be away, giving teaching presentations. Several times it had been just Sans, Papyrus and I... but never Frisk... why wouldn't he just tell me? What could it have hurt for me to know that he was my father?

"You didn't even know, Chara, why should I trust you?"

"I didn't think it was possible, no one did. Humans and Monsters just... don't." She gives a disgusted grunt. "I don't even want to know ho--"

"Shh! Not important right now, Chara!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh."

I could feel my heart pounding in my ears. "Chara, how much longer until we can get away from this world?" Knowing that they were my parents... knowing that they had never wanted me... it was a little too much to bear right now.

Susie shifts in her sleep, rolling over, pressing her snout into my hair. She gives a shaky breath and sneezes, jolting Papyrus from beside Frisk. I flinch for a moment before I relax into her, trying to hold on to what little reality I felt I had left.

"You have to tell him, Frisk," I hear him murmur. "You are his mother whether you like it or not. How did you feel when you lost your parents, huh? You wanted so desperately to cling onto that part of yourself that you didn't know... he's going through the same thing!" He sighs, exasperated. "It might not make him love you, but it could help him know that Chara isn't the best place to look for belonging..."

"Well, I quite literally jumped into the Underground, Papyrus, you know that! But that was different! I didn't fit in, I didn't... nothing I did was good enough on the surface! It wasn't just about not knowing my history." Frisk counters, sitting up. "He's my son and I made a huge mistake by leaving him, okay? But I did it for us. I did it for monsterkind. I didn't do it because I wanted to!"

"Then tell him." He gruffs. "I don't want Chara over him just a much as you hated having her over you."

My mind whirls. "She was always like this, wasn't she?" I ask, frowning.

"She doesn't have the determination that you do, Kris." Chara exhales, clawing at the mental wall I trapped her behind. "You can't do this on your own though. We still need something else..." she sings.

"I'm not letting my guard down, Chara. Why didn't you ever mention her before now, how she was, huh?"

"All we need is the Deltarune..." she continues, dodging the question.

"ENOUGH!" I shout in my thoughts, feeling her darkness beginning to cloud what little focus I grasped at. "You don't really know anything about Frisk, do you? You were never able to get anything out of her. You may have been there with her the whole time, but she never once let you into her mind..." I trail. Things were beginning to make sense.

"You used me to get the information about this world because you couldn't even take back the one you had in the Underground... I'm nothing more than a body to you, aren't I?" My head begins to pound, a thick, dull pain spreading across my forehead.

"You think you're so smart," she laughs darkly. "This world will be mine... either you'll give in to me completely, or I'll have to do it myself," she cackles. "In the field? You think you stopped me? If your purple dinosaur hadn't shoved your wretched soul back into you, I would've slaughtered all of them, not just Frisk."

The pain becomes greater, and I can't stop the low groan that escapes my chest. "You can't have me," I strain, pushing her further and further away, but the pain only worsened.

"Kris?" I barely hear Papyrus ask as he looks my way.

"Please don't," I choke, begging him to stay away from me. "Chara... I have to," My voice cracks painfully. I sit up in a sweat and cough, putting up an arm to stop him. Papyrus doesn't move, but begins to glow, his teeth clenched together. He knew. I saw the hurt in his eyes as I struggled to warn him about her. Tears spilled on to his cheekbones in horror, but he forced himself to stay put.

"Get out of my head!" I shout, stumbling to my feet. My hands clutch the sides of my head, my temples throbbing. The edges of my vision flicker, and I stumble towards the door. I have to get out of here... They have a better chance of staying safe if I can just...

"It's a little too late for that," Chara laughs, the pain now searing, blurring my sight. "You are nothing but a vessel. Your choices have never mattered."

The ache spreads down my spine and into my chest as I run out the front of the building, trying to get as far away as I can. If I can't control her, at least I can control what's left of me.


	20. W. D. Gaster

I could sense his pain. The closer he got, I felt the overwhelming ache in his soul, and how desperately he wanted it gone. He couldn't do it on his own. His own soul was scratching, clawing, fighting for a chance to make it to the surface of his conscience.

I never wanted to cause any of these people pain. No one in the Underground, not my sons, and definitely not this young child. There was just a will in my soul to want to fix all of the things that had gone wrong, to put back the lives of the creatures that had been tortured--by the Delta, the Lightners, and the Monsters, all of it... just to put it all back the way it should've been, before the War had even begun.

After the Monsters had been sealed in the Underground, and the Lightners locked out of the Dark World... when Chara and Asriel had put their souls together... that's when I knew that I had failed. For that child to simply will her souls over his, she was the other half to the light I had dedicated my life to creating--she was the darkness. For every other good thing I had done, she was the opposite, taking forms through all the creatures I had fought to help... I shiver, staring at the red foliage above me, noticing that my fingers were tight on the bark of the tree.

Chara was what she was called, but I remember all the times she was there, working against me. She was in the bodies of the sick and dying Darkner children--mind and bodies frail as the inequality in magic in the Dark World caused their souls to lose their strength... She was there, taking over their souls and pushing them to continue wanting to eradicate the Lightners. She was there in the body of the first fallen human in the Underground... poisoning the King with dandelions and taking hold of the Prince's soul--her heart full of rage and malice towards the humans on the surface. It wasn't until I saw the pieces of Asriel's soul put together in that flower, empty and just a shell of what he had been... I knew that Chara was meant to destroy everything she touched.

And she was here now, in the body of the boy who's mind was troubled about his existence and purpose in this world... I shake my head, feeling the ache in my soul come more apparent with his approach. His footsteps were scuffling and erratic, and he was huffing, breath ragged as he tripped over one of the massive roots that sprawled across the floor of the forest. I watched, my soul tugging in my chest. He writhed with himself, sitting up, one hand pinning his other away from his chest, where a thick white bandage had been wrapped--it was visible through the rip in the neckline of the soft muslin shirt.

"You can't," he keeps repeating, almost in a growl. His hair had come loose in places from the band it was tied back with, and they wetly framed his face.

Slowly, I step from behind the tree, placing a palm on his shoulder from behind him. He freezes stiff for a moment, slowly turning his head to meet my eyes. No words come from his lips, but the message was clear in his sad, brown eyes, "Please, help me..."

I don't know if I can. In all the other encounters with Chara... all I could do was watch. Sitting slowly, I pick over the child, tying his hair back again, and offering him my cloak. He takes it, but his teeth are still clenched in pain. "Help, my head," he croaks painfully, eyes shutting tight against the pain. Gingerly, I put my palms on the sides of his head nearest his temples, and focus a soft healing magic into them. The glow is faint, but enough to show me that his face was covered with cuts and scratches, and his leg had a cast on it. "Is it broken?" I ask, still focusing my magic. I can feel the edge of his pain relaxing, but Chara was still in there, clawing away at his conscience.

He nods, hand pressing over the top of mine, begging for me to keep going. I inhale, trying to keep my composure. Too much and it could knock him out, but too little, and Chara would soon be back... "I know it hurts," I attempt to soothe. I give a bit more to the glow, and he relaxes still.

Slowly, I let the magic fizzle out, and I hold his face in my hands, trying not to let my concern show. I place a hand on his leg, and attempt to heal what I can, realizing that it was fairly close to being fixed already. Something else had also aided in healing it.

"You're a skeleton," he whispers, voice raspy. "You're the only one I've ever seen outside of the two I already know," He leans against the tree, eyes still closed. He sounds extremely tired, and pulls the hood of the cloak over his eyes. "This is a really soft cloak," he whispers, smirking.

At least he was smirking.

"This is true," I shrug. "Velvet not only boosts magical properties, but feels great on the bones as well." I smirk back. "Skeletons exist the same as other monsters, just... less of us. We are likened to bad magical omens, but, honestly, we just don't really fit in. Not exactly human, not exactly monster, just mostly magic." I lean against the tree on the other side of him, exhaling.

"Thank you for helping me." He offers after a while.

"You're welcome," I reply. "We should probably get you back to where you came from though, it's too late to be wandering through the caverns safely."

He nods. "Just let me rest, and then we can go," he murmurs quietly.


	21. Susie

Susie--

I paced on the front door step of the church, axe over my shoulder as I kicked pebbles into the night. My hands shook ever so slightly on the edge of the axe, being from the cold or how nervous the darkness made me, I couldn't tell. Man, I hate the dark.

"Kris, I swear..." I curse under my breath, frowning all the while. It was one thing for him to be acting weird, being back here, of course, but after the incident in the woods and then him now running out into the night like this... I shake my head. I knew I didn't really know what he was going through. He'd tried to explain it before, when we had been here last time, but I didn't get it.

"It's like, it's like a little voice in my head, but... some times it gets really loud... and I just... I get quiet on the outside because it's so loud in there," he breathed. I remember the look on his face--hair frayed out and over his eyes, and the undeniable exhaustion in his voice. Even his posture was different--he didn't stand quite as tall as he had before. He was smaller, curved in pain.

I reach out to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me, his hair falling away from his eyes. The bags around them were heavy, and almost appeared purple, even in the bright light of the fountain. "Okay, but we all have voices, Kris. Sometimes they make us do good things, and then sometimes not. How is this different?" I asked, staring in front of us. Our journey at that point was nearly over, but he had these thoughts weighing so heavily on him, it was making it difficult for him to leave. Why had he decided to bring it up now? "I ask because I care," I add.

"It's just... it's more than a voice. It... actually controls me from time to time, and I get these horrific nightmares... and..." he trails, exhaling. He looks at me, a dull haze over his deep brown eyes. The flecks of green had disappeared. "I...I will have to show you sometime," he resigns, looking ahead to the light. "cause we're friends now, right?" he smirks, trying to change the subject. I smirk back and let it happen. "Regardless," he huffs, "we've got to get out of here first, right?"

I nod. "Ralsei seemed pretty adamant about it... but also," I murmur, offering a hand to him, smirking, "I'd like to meet this voice of yours. It seems like it might rival my picking on you, and that can't happen." I chuckle.

He smiles. Ah, there it is. "Yep."

I shake my head of the memory, and focus back to looking out in the night. "Why couldn't you have just told me?" I ask, kicking a small pebble. "I knew you were pretty weird already... being possessed really wouldn't have been that different..."

Then a sound from behind me comes, and I flinch, turning to look, hands tight on my axe. Sans is standing there, hands in his pockets. He chuckles. "Calm down there, kiddo. It's just me." He leans on the doorframe, looking out into the woods. "Waitin' on Kris, huh?"

I shrug, sitting on the stairstep, feeling the brick beneath my claws. "If he comes back..." I frown. "There's been so much happening, and I just... I don't really understand it all. It first started out as Kris being weird cause he was hearing voices, and now he literally wants to fight everyone," I huff.

"Well, I don't think he'll be gone much longer. He'll come back. I think he, uh, cares too much for ya, you know?" His voice is calm, much less severe than it normally is.

"Kris? Eh. I mean, yeah, we're friends, but that doesn't mean anything... even the people that love you the most leave sometimes." I frown. "I know it sure happened that way to me."

"Yeah, well. Regardless of what happened before, I know that he really thinks a lot of you. As soon as we got him awake in that hospital, he asked about you. You can't really trade-in that kind of friendship, Susie. At least not Kris. He's done some stupid stuff lately, but he's as loyal as they get. Got it from his family," he winks.

"I think the news set him off," I breathe, picking at invisible dust spots on my axe. "That was a lot for him to take in. He scared the shit out of me when he woke up, screaming at Papyrus..." It at least felt like screaming to me, Kris couldn't stop shaking, but his voice had been so full of pain...

"It set off Chara more than it did him. I doubt Chara knew. Chara really only knows what she experiences through her host... There's a lot she couldn't get out of Frisk from being in the Underground, because Frisk was so young. It's hard to possess a mind whose attention span is only thirty seconds long. Even as she got older, I think Frisk just never really listened to her head. She's a more 'feely' kind of person. Acts more on heart than brains... and I think Chara knows that. In possessing Kris... he's always been inside his head, even when he was little. He didn't even talk until he was almost 4. The kid just relies on his thinking, and Chara uses that to her advantage..." He coughs, coming to sit beside me. "But you helped him when he was here. You made him feel something, you and Ralsei both. For once, he could think with his heart and be brave, and I think he needs the two of you now more than ever, at least until we can get the Deltarune. I feel as if that's the only thing that can fix him, and fix this world."

I nod, offering my hand to him. It must tear him up to see all of this happening to his family... his brother and Frisk, and Kris. I silently remind myself that I'm almost a part of this family at this point. If I mean as much to Kris as Sans seems to think that I do, at least. He takes my hand in his and smiles, holding my palm with both of his hands--I can't help but smirk, as his thin, bony fingers were much smaller than mine.

"Don't stress too much, Susie," Sans smirks. He'll be back, and now, we know what to do."


	22. Can I Tell You A Secret?

Gaster --

He walked beside me, the bottom hem of the cloak in his hands, to keep it from dragging the ground. He was tall, but was just short enough inside the cloak. I felt a little more at ease, knowing that he wasn't in as much pain anymore, but he still wasn't talking, he was thinking. Was he still talking to her?

"Kris," I breathe, hand on his shoulder. "What's on your mind?" I ask gently, putting the hood of the cloak down. His eyes were tired, but not as drained as before.

"I.. er... I've got a voice in my head that won't leave me alone... that's why I had a headache earlier, it just... takes a lot out of me sometimes." he frowns, running a hand through his hair.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

He stops, looking up at me. "I think so."

"I know. And I know what you're dealing with."

He recoils from the touch on my shoulder, eyes narrowing in distrust. "How would you know...?" The static in the air between us crackled, and he took another step away from me.

"Because," I say, "I made her. I... unfortunately, made Chara."

His eyes look away from mine, and the breathing in his chest becomes a little faster. "You... you what? Who...who are you?" His voice cracks, and his eyes widen.

"D-don't freak out... I... None of it was intentional. Science has a distinct way of working, and when you pair it with magic, it's... got some unpredictable kinks. When light is created, an equally powerful force of darkness must also be created, and that... just happened to be Chara." I reach a hand out for him. "Please, don't run away. There's a way to fix this, but I just can't tell you right now..." I falter. Chara was still in him. She could hear this, and I knew if I told him...

"Then tell me who you are! You can't imagine the pain I've been in for years of my life, for almost as long as I can remember..." His shoulders shake with incoming sobs, or anger, or both, really.

"I can't!" I say back, hand beginning to glow faintly. I nearly can't control the emotions flowing from me. "If you know, then she will also know!"

He takes another step back, turning to leave. "You're a crazy skeleton," he hisses. "You have no clue who I am, or what I've been through! Even if you did create Chara, she isn't your problem anymore. I don't need your help!"

"Kris." I state, glow getting brighter. "Kris, I can't tell you everything that is happening right now, but you have to trust me, okay?" I reach out towards him...

"Give me something true then," he says, in a growl. "Tell me something that I know that you wouldn't." He puts the hood of the cloak up, and he almost appeared threatening. It was almost as if his eyes glowed red with hatred and fear beneath the brown waves, but I couldn't be sure. Regardless, this was him. This was the child's thoughts, the child's ideas. A step in the right direction, but still, Chara was beneath... if only I could tell him how to control her...

"Something true, hm?" I murmur, walking towards him.

He nods, standing his ground.

"I... You're going to hate me for this later." I cut off short and catch him in the jaw, knocking him out on the ground cold. The magic in my fist fizzles out, and I have to calm my breathing.

This is either going to go really well, or really poorly, I think to myself, hoisting him over my shoulder with a grunt.


	23. Reunion

Papyrus---  
It was unreal, seeing him again. It was as if everything Sans was telling me had a place now in my senses. The stories about the magicks, the giant gash in my left ribs, the reasons why we ended up in Snowdin... all of it made sense now, seeing him. I'm frozen to my spot when I see him set Kris, asleep, on the bed.  
"Wh...what did you do to him?" I breathe. "Is he hurt?"  
He shakes his head. "He was trying to get further away from here, and we got into a scuffle. I knew he had to be yours," he smirks. "There's not really anyone else I know who talks like that.” He huffs, “Can’t say that I don’t miss it either.”  
"Don't play this off," I look down at Susie, who was leaning protectively over Kris. Her fingers twitched restlessly, but she didn't say anything to him. She only stood there, as if frozen, unknowing of what to do.  
Gaster shrugs. "It was mostly magic, you know. I didn't REALLY hit him." He leans back into the chair, frowning at me. Everything about him made me uneasy. From his angular bone structure, to how he slumped, looking around the room. He was comfortable in all of this, just as he had been several years ago. Comfortable with violence. Comfortable with pain. Comfortable with saving only himself. The black cloak he had on… it clicked. That wasn’t his. It was my mother’s. Fear seized my gut. What had happened to her? Where did she go when we were all so young…?  
I shake myself out of the idea. I still didn't know what to say. None of this made sense. "What's the real reason you're here, W.D.?" I muster, standing between him and the kids. Something about him…  
"Why am I here?" He scoffs, putting the cloak back on. "I'm sure the same reason why the both of you are back, you and Sans, that is. To put this cracking, failing world back together. I can imagine that the surface isn't fairing too well at this point, eh?" He’s still so relaxed… It makes me uneasy.  
"Is this where you came back to when you scattered yourself in the lab in Hotland? Where did you go? Why didn't you tell us?"  
He nods. "I did it to give us options. Timeline jumping didn't happen until that point. No saves, no resets, nothing before then. I knew the timeline we started in was unstable, but I did it to give us nearly unlimited chances to get it right. Timelines where we were all together again... I didn't want to leave the two of you... I just... had to." His frown eases into concern. “I know… I know this is not how you had planned it. There was… really, no other way, Papyrus.”  
I look away, frustrated. “Don’t call me that,” I growl. “You never called me that before.” It was always by some experiment name. A call number, and nothing more. He had no right… He’s not anything different than Frisk. "Why couldn't we just have gone down the path we were supposed to, huh? What was so wrong with it all ending? Why are you so obsessed with trying to make it 'right'? Maybe it'll never be right, W.D. Maybe not ever. Why did you think it was YOUR responsibility to fix it?" My hands tremble in my lap, and I decide to pick at the sparse bloodstains that made it through the sweater onto the white undershirt. It wasn't much, but it was enough to pick at.  
"You mean the woman and the boy, don't you?" He asks, leaning forward in the chair. “We can fix that problem, easy.” His voice had a snarl to it, an evil, ugly thing. “But I’m sure that’s not what you had in mind. Nothing means more to you than those pathetic humans."  
"Don't." I warn him. "That isn't your battle."  
"But it is!" He insists. "You only care about the timelines in the fact that you wish you could've gone back, and saved her from ever breaking the barrier, to convincing her to stay in the Underground... to save him from ever coming in contact with Char--"  
"Leave them out of this," I growl, taking a menacing step forward. "We know how to fix him, and we don't need your help to do it. And whatever it is that happens between Frisk and I is none of your business. She isn't a child anymore, Gaster. Neither am I."  
"Do you even know where it is, huh?" He sneers. "Somewhere in the mountains, right? At least I'm sure that's what the Prince told you. I know where it really is. And it isn't in the mountains. How else do you think the fountains came to be? The Knight wasn't always this powerful."  
"Do you even hear yourself right now, W.D.? What knight?" I stand above him, fists shaking. "You'd better explain it, and now."  
I look over my shoulder at the kids, and Susie is sitting with Kris's head laid in her lap, his hair spilling over her thigh. He's fidgeting in his sleep, but she runs her claws through his scalp softly, eyes trained on him. She seemed terrified, huddled on the corner of the bed, but she still soothed him. I had to protect these children. Susie's yellow eyes glance up at me through her choppy bangs, and they screamed through the tears her fear and turmoil. This was a lot for anyone to handle, and especially children.  
"It won't take long," Gaster huffs, leaning back in the chair, not threatened by my looming over him. "But you'll need to get your brother."


End file.
